Throughout the years all types of beverages have been packaged (generally called "bottling" in the trade) in a wide variety of relatively small containers for general distribution and sale to the public. Such beverages include carbonated and non-carbonated liquids and both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, such as beer and ale, soda "pop," fruit juices and other beverages that may be identified or classified by different designations depending upon the respective industries, local customs or colloquial expression, official government regulations or the like. Such relatively small containers (in the range of 6 oz. to 24 oz.) for sale to the general public have included glass bottles of the returnable type for cleaning, relabeling and refilling and glass bottles of the "throw-away" or non-returnable type, and cans formed from tin plate, aluminum or the like that are also non-returnable.
In general, it will be recognized that the different beverage or bottling industries have been motivated in their selection of containers by many factors including corporate image and consumer acceptance, but primarily by the economics of the container itself. The economic aspects are relatively complex since, in addition to the basic cost of making and shipping empty containers, the brewery or soft drink bottling company or the like must anticipate its production requirements, storage or warehousing capacity, processing costs, life span of the container or average reuse or, in the alternative, the reclaim or recycle value. With particular reference to the brewing and soft drink industries, one of the principal problems of present containers, whether glass or metal cans, is that they require a large volume of space for both storage and handling since it is necessary to have many square feet of storage floor space merely to maintain filling lines with a sufficient number of containers to continue high speed production. In the case of glass containers, they are heavy and subject to breakage and returnable glass bottles present a further problem to retail sales outlets who must sort out different brands and also store large volumes of empties until they are picked up for return to the beverage company.
Two of the major aspects of presently available containers involve the problem of preserving natural resources and ecological considerations in the manufacture, processing and reuse of containers. Material shortages (of natural resources) are being realized in all fields and, even though the present invention utilizes a relatively expensive commodity (such as stainless steel or a like non-corrosive metal), it is believed that the extended returnable and reusable life of this product will be beneficial to the national or international economies since it will obviate or substantially reduce the current material shortages as to the availability of tin plate and aluminum. It should also be recognized that the manufacturing process of stainless steel or the like generates no more air pollutants than glass containers, and is substantially less of an air pollutant problem than the manufacture of aluminum, tin plate or tin plate steel (can containers) which will require a coating process for compliance with F.D.A. requirements. Obviously, such a process by itself requires a large energy consumption and generates a substantial amount of heat and air pollution.
These and other ecological problems of beer and soft drink bottles and cans have come to the forefront in recent years, with legislation against littering and, in some states, laws prohibiting the use of either metal or glass throw-away containers. However, in spite of such laws and strong campaigns for recycling both metal and glass containers to obviate the litter problem and, more importantly, to preserve and maximize the use of our natural resources, we are still confronted with an apathetic public that does litter and will not bother to utilize recycling centers. This problem is largely due, not only to the low cost of present containers, but their lack of utility by the consumer public for any purpose other than consumption of the product and disposal of the container.
Accordingly, in the interest of preserving the environment and maximizing the use of natural resources, there is an increased interest in returnable and reusable containers which require a more substantial deposit on such containers for soft drinks and beer; the concept being that the deposit will make the containers too valuable to discard thus solving the major litter problem and forcing the reuse of materials from our natural resources, since even if the containers are discarded scavengers will collect them and cash them in. In fact, where legislation has been enacted requiring the payment of a deposit, it has materially improved the situation. However, conventional cans must go through a whole recycling or re-manufacturing process, while returnable glass bottles can be washed and relabeled before being reused. Returnable glass bottles are inconvenient for consumers, retailers, distributors and the like for many reasons. For example, consumers object to carrying the heavy empty bottles back to the retailer, and some apartment dwellers complain that they do not have space enough to store empties. Furthermore, consumers prefer cans over bottles since they are not subject to accidental breakage like glass and are more quickly chilled. Glass bottles are inconvenient for retailers who also have storage problems and for operators of delivery trucks because they take up more space than cans and weigh a lot more; capacity per truck is reduced because of these size and weight limitations and operation costs are thereby increased. In addition, there are great seasonal use fluctuations so volumes of returnables may vary widely. new
A still further aspect of containers, as dispensed in vending machines in gasoline service stations and like operations, is that returnable glass bottles are generally provided for, but again occupy a substantial amount of space. Present metal containers or throw-away cans are generally not recycled, whereas the present invention is adaptable to vending machine operations with a large deposit for dispensing and a return deposit for the container when properly placed in a return chute therefor. In other words, the nestable feature of the present invention will facilitate a new vending machine operation to assure that the container is returned or that an equitable price for the container has been paid by the consumer.